I started to get worried when, last fall, for a 3rd time, Sony/Screen Gems pushed back the release date for the Will Packer-produced thriller “No Good Deed'” which stars Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson.

Initially set for an October 18, 2013 theatrical debut, the film’s release date was moved to January 17, 2014. That was then followed by another push-back, when its premiere date was moved from January 17, 2014 to April 25, 2014.

And then the studio, once again, moved the film’s release date, pushing it back by another 5 months, to September 12, 2014, which is where it currently stands. I don’t expect that the date will be moved again, with September just 3 months away.

All I can do is speculate since I don’t have a direct (or even an indirect) line to Screen Gems brass.

Even though this many moves typically suggests danger to me, I will posit that, the most recent shift could be due to the other films that were scheduled to open on the previously-set April 2014 date – films whose release dates weren’t set at the time that the push-back from January to April, 2014 was made public. Studios have to ensure that their films are given the best placement, to put them in a position to do well.

But Will Packer certainly knows his audience, and how to reach them, as he’s proven with past films – most recently “Think Like A Man” and “Ride Along,” which were both immensely successful for the studios releasing them, so maybe there’s nothing to be concerned with here.

I just hope that this isn’t another “We The Peeples,” which Lionsgate pushed back about the same number of times, before finally settling on a date and sticking to it – something that I believe hurt the film at the box office.

“No Good Deed,” which stars Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson, centers on a former District Attorney, and mother of 2 young children (Henson), kidnapped and terrorized by a handsome but mysterious stranger (Elba), who she lets into her home to wait for help, after his car runs off the road nearby. The below trailer gives us more background on Elba’s character, which sets up the events that follow.

Mexican starlet, and the reigning queen of telenovelas, Kate del Castillo and Henry Simmons, round out the film’s starring cast.

Comments

Cathy
May 13, 2016 7:55 pm

Just another movie people will go and get ideas from in their pretty little heads….weeks after the movie there will be home invasions coming to a city near you that was "Taken from the movie." Some movies, just shouldn't be made.

Kind of reminds me a little of the 1991 version of Cape Fear, except DeNiro did a better Southern accent. Idris Elba does have other things in his favor in this movie, however. Like that shower scene. At the risk of sounding inappropriate…hubba hubba!